Dan Thomas stands down as Reform UK’s Wales leader after police arrest

Sarah Cooper-Lesadd had addressed the media at the Senedd this evening on her decision to defect from Reform to Plaid Cymru.

She said: “Today I have joined Plaid Cymru and this has come after a period of reflection and deliberation.

“I feel this is the right political home for me after seeing what has happened over the last few months and coming on a journey back to Wales and seeing the fact Wales needs more devolution, it is short changed in so many ways, and Plaid Cymru is the party that best embodies for me, and those are the values I really believe in.

“This is why I am here. There is a vision of hope, a vision of ambition for the people of Wales, and this is what I’ve seen over the last few months since I’ve been in the Senedd, and I knew there couldn’t be a greater contrast between Plaid and Reform with their politics.

“I got into politics because I wanted to represent care leavers who are so underrepresented in politics.

“People like me don’t often get into politics, it is an extremely rare thing to do, and that’s why I stood on that platform. It has become increasingly more apparent as the Reform group has made more and more statements and had more and more debate on divisive things such as the Nation of Sanctuary, which I have argued consistently against as being the wrong thing to do.

Asked if the news surrounding Dan Thomas was a factor in her decision, she said: “It wasn’t, it’s a police matter and it is not for me to comment on.”

She was further asked whether she felt she was leaving her constituency down by defecting, with them having voted for her as a Reform candidate.

She said: “I would say I understand, but I am on a political journey and I will continue to represent my voters and constituents in the best way that I can which is consistent. I have always held them in the closeness of my heart in terms of how I read things and how I approach my work. I am a very hard worker and I will continue to do that, nothing changes.”